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Not bad, but not great

I've been reviewing the new Walkers range of World Cup crisps on and off, and now it's the turn of the Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak flavour. I'm only reviewing the vegetarian crisps, and it's a real eye opener just to see which flavours are veggie!

The packet is in the colour of the Argentinian flag, which is blue and white. Instructions on the packet state how to vote for your favourite flavour in the Walkers Flavour Cup, should you so wish. There are 179 calories in a packet (mine was bought singly not as part of a multipack), and the crisps contain no MSG, no preservatives and no artificial colours.

The ingredients are potatoes, sunflower oil, and seasoning which is made up of wheat flour, flavourings (rather vague), glucose, salt, hydrolysed soya protein and dried onion. The only flavour I really recognise is the dried onion, though perhaps the soya protein was brought in to make the crisps taste like meat!

Opening the pack, the crisps were light in colour (i.e. not visibly covered in flavouring) and had a smell that was vaguely barbecue-esque. The taste reminded me of onion gravy and was rather like those barbecue crisps you can get. They didn't taste too meaty, which was a plus for me but a minus, I imagine, for most people who actually want their flame grilled steak crisps to taste like, well, flame grilled steak.

Though I sort of enjoyed these crisps, they're not something I'd rush out and buy again, and they didn't strike me as being all that different from crisps already on the market. They probably taste less like their so-called flavour than any of the others I've had so far. Nice try though!

I purchased these crisps at my local shop on special offer (2 packs for 60p) which I thought was pretty reasonable.

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They're okay but nothing special or different.

So, I love The World Cup, I love crisps and I love Argentina (including the food when I travelled there in January). And so you'd think that Walkers Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak Crisps which are promoted by the World Cup theme, would be a bit of a winner, right? Ummmmmm wrong.

The packet itself is clearly designed to fit in with the World Cup theme with the Jules Rimet trophy taking centre stage on the packet and the backdrop of the packet itself being the blue and white of the Argentinian flag. I'm old enough to remember the infamous Diego Maradonna's "Hand of God" goal which I still haven't managed to let go of completely (I hold a grudge a long time) and so I didn't feel particularly inspired to love these crisps from the start. Yes, Argentina is a great country, but our history with them in the World Cup is certainly nothing for any England fan to celebrate!

Having opened this crisps and tasted them it became clear that there is nothing special about them - and nothing particularly horrible either. They are just "crisps" and beef and onion crisps at that. I have no idea where the "flame grilled" part comes in because they certainly don't taste flame grilled and as with regular beef and onion crisps, they don't actually taste that beefy either! Argentinian beef is arguably the best beef in the world because the flavors are intense, meaty, juicy, fresh etc. and yet there is nothing really of that here. They are slightly salty and its obvious from the taste and the ingredient list that a cow hasn't been anywhere near these crisps, which may make the product suitable for veggies but also means that us meat eaters feel a little cheated.

The crisps, as with all Walkers crisps, are crispy and crunchy and not too greasy. They come in a foil lined bag meaning that they should keep their freshness for a long while, although this does mean that they're not environmentally friendly in any way.

I can't help but feel that Walkers are being so blatant about their marketing strategy to use the fact that most of us get whipped up into a frenzy about the World Cup and that they are exploiting this. I know that's good marketing, and if they came out with a range of unique flavours then that would be fine, but when they palm us off with an old flavour and repackage it to sell it to us as a new flavour....well, I think that's pretty off.

Would I recommend these crisps? Not particularly. They're "okay" but that's about as much enthusiasm as I can muster.

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A nice flavour, but we've had it before

Now that the World Cup is upon us I thought that I should review some more of the range of crisps that Walkers launched in order to cash it on it, oh sorry, to celebrate it. They have created 15 new flavours that are supposed to represent 15 of the nations that have qualified for the World Cup.

As a sideshow they are also running the World Flavour cup where anyone can vote for their favourite flavour online or via text, with the winner being announced at the end of the tournament.

Typically for Walkers the crisps come in a packet which is far too big for the quantity of crisps they are giving you. You will find that the bag is barely half full. In this environmentally friendly, cost cutting era we're living in, you would think they might resolve this issue!

When you open a bag of Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak you instantly realise that this flavour is a bit of a rip-off. All you get is a smell of the standard beef and onion flavour. When it comes to the taste nothing much changes. If you've had beef and onion flavour then you already know what these taste like. They are almost exactly the same. I'm not saying it tastes bad, it's just not a new flavour. They are beefy and the seasoning does contain onion. I was at least expecting the flame grilled flavour to shine through. In reality there is nothing.

As you might well expect from a packet of Walkers crisps they are not all that good for you nutritionally. Each 34.5g pack contains 179 calories and 11.2g fat. So I wouldn't have too many if you're watching your figure. This flavour is however free from MSGs, preservatives and artificial colours. They are suitable for vegetarians (no beef at all!), but NOT for coeliacs as it contains wheat flour.

I have seen them available at wildly varying prices, ranging from 60p in petrol stations to as little as 10p in Home Bargains and B&M Bargains. These crisps are definitely worth 10p of anyone's money.

Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak is one of my least favoured flavours of the new range simply because it brings nothing new. I would suggest that Argentina have a much better chance of lifting the Jules Rimet trophy than these crisps have of winning the World Flavour Cup! Very disappointing.

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A nice flavour from good old Walkers

I'm a huge crisp fan, can easily polish off a few bags at a time so when Walkers announced their 'flavour cup' range I just had to try a bag (or two!).

Walkers crisps are very distinct, they always have the legendary 'Walkers' logo which is basically a huge round crisp with the Walkers banner in red draped across the sun like disc.

The Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak come in a regular 34.5g sized bag, which displays the nutritional information on the front of the packet in an easy to understand format.

Each pack contains the following:

179 calories0.4g sugar11.2g fat0.9g saturates0.42g salt

Whilst not the most healthy snack to be had, the saturates are not too bad considering they are basically fried in oil.

Why do we buy crisps? Essentially not for the nutritional value but for the immense flavour. And these do not disappoint.

When you open the bag you get a big 'beefy' whif, they smell delicious. The crisps are nice, light and crunchy. I'm not a big fan of thick cut crisps, so these Walkers really hit the spot when it comes to my ideal crisp thickness (not too thick not too thin!!).

The flavour is quite awesome, very beefy and I can definately detect the 'flame grilled' seasoning, which makes these stand appart from regular beef or steak crisps.

In my opinion, I think these are a definate winner which I'll definately buy again.

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Another dull attempt by Walkers to remind us the World Cp is on!

Walkers Argentinian Flame-Grilled Steak are another in Walkers abysmal World Cup Flavours range though these are not actually too bad.

Burt when I think of Flame-Grilled Steak flavoured crisps, I instantly think of the McCoys Brand and tese ar really no comparison at all! I fact tese are a far inferior crisp!

Don't get me wrong, these aren't without a bit of taste, it's just that the flavour is nowhee near strong enough and very quickly lost! If you were eating these with a pint in a pub, you would be hard-pressed to identify what they were meant to be and, seeing as crisps are traditionally eaten in pubs, especially in this weather when you can sit near the river and enjoy a cool pint, this seems very much like an own goal by Walkers.

None of these flavours are really impressing right now and to be honest I think you would be better off sticking with the more conventional flavours. Which may be hard as at the minute we are just experiencing the first waves of World Cup fever and these will be widely available up and down the country for a few months yet at least!

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I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right

It's the start of another Bank Holiday as I write this, and so - inevitably - it's cool, damp and dreary outside. What I need, therefore, is a little taste of the exotic, and one of Walkers' special edition "Flavour Cup" packs should do the trick. This time around I've chosen their "Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak" flavour, which looks quite promising, especially since I like steak flavour crisps on the whole; McCoys' version in particular is lovely and Walkers have quite something to live up to if they're going to match those.

The pack design is a bit dull, which is probably unavoidable given the subdued light blue and white stripes of the Argentinian flag, on which it is based. I wonder whether this flavour's purported origin might suppress its sales a bit, though: even if there isn't a big badge on the front saying "Oi, Inglés! What about the Islas Malvinas then, Señor?" then the football tie-in (unofficial as with all these packs, but nevertheless obvious) might have an effect, what with Maradona and co hardly having been flavour of the month (ho ho) with most English fans over many years now.

Nutritionally, there isn't a lot to report, seeing as how almost all the flavours in this collection have virtually identical stats. I'm testing a multipack bag, which is 25 grams (the individual ones are more substantial) and it has 130 kcal and 8.1g of fat, both of which are entirely unremarkable figures. As usual, these crisps are suitable for vegetarians (which is all very laudable, but I would like *some* meat-flavour crisps actually to contain meat!), and the pack bears no explicit allergy information but does mention wheat and soya in the ingredients. There's also the usual mass of small print on the left hand side about how to vote for your favourite flavour by text and win... well, nothing as far as I can see. To get an actual prize, you have to win the separate "Superfan" competition, for which you have to make an utter fool of yourself on the Walkers website.

Weirdly, the smell is nowhere near as prominent as I would have imagined; in fact, it's barely there at all. Even if you stick your nose right into the bag and breathe deeply (there, you see the level of my devotion to this reviewing lark?) it's still quite hard to tell what the flavour is supposed to be. I wasn't very impressed with that, if truth be told. The crisps are lighter in colour than I had expected for a beefy variety, but they do at least crunch pretty nicely; there's no sogginess in here, presumably thanks to the foil-lined bag. (And no, Walkers, I haven't stopped whinging at you for not making it recyclable...)

As for the taste... well...! Those of you with longer memories may remember that at one time Walkers (or it might even have been Smiths, before the takeover) sold Bovril flavour crisps. Admittedly they were rather stickier than these, and the flavouring used to get all over your fingers so you could lick it off at the end... but in terms of flavour, these are the closest I've come across for some time. There's a moment in the eating, just before you swallow, when the resemblance is uncanny. They don't taste that much like steak, and I'd recommend the McCoys version over them, but if you want a nostalgia kick then you could do worse.

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As Argentine as Bjork!

So for the World Cup Walkers have gone all Heston Blumenthal and released 15 new flavours from some of the most influential countries in World Football.

This product is Argentine Flame Grilled Steak Crisps, in many ways the crisps are similar to Argentine Steak, namely in their name, other than that they bear much more similarity to Walkers Beef and Onion crisps which they taste identical too.

The crisps are packaged in Walkers bags, sealed with foil for freshness they bear a cup and the Argentine flag on the front. They are available on their own or in multi-packs with other innovative flavours like South African Chutney flavour (!).

Taste:

In essence they taste exactly like Beef and Onion Walkers Crisps, there is no difference I noticed, my partner has commented that they taste similar to Walkers Kangaroo crisps, although that is perhaps going too far.

The crisps are round and reasonably sized, when opening the bag you get an inital whiff of beef but it tastes manufactured, with a notice that it is suitable for vegetarians its clearly simply flavourings and no real product.

The crisps are 50p in WH Smiths or I bought a six pack for £2.48 in my local tesco metro, they aren't a patch on Pringles and having been to Argentina I think the description is pushing things a tad, they should be rebranded as 'Beef and Onion Crisps in a different bag', I don't rate these and don't feel sure that these are the best product in this range.

I wouldn't recommend these, they aren't new, they aren't clever and I won't go out of my way to try them again, this is similar to McDonalds rebranding as an Argentine Steak house because their burgers consist of some beef!!!

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TOTALLY MINGING

Walkers have a current promotion on dedicated to the World Cup. Each team playing has a flavour of crisps known to that country. There are 15 in total.

*Product*

This is what Argentina has to offer us : Flame Grilled Steak flavoured potato crisps.

*Packaging*

The crisps come in a foil bag. The front of the bag resembles that of the Argentina flag which is two blue strips with a white strip along the middle. The Walkers logo, product name, World Cup trophy and a small nutrition breakdown is also on the front.

On the back of the bag, you will find details of the promotion, ingredients, nutrition and details of how to contact Walkers.

*The Crisps*

The crisps are pretty standard and come in various shapes and sizes. They are quite thin and are a light golden shade with a slightly powdery texture. They are kept fresh by the foil bag.

The crisps contain no MSG, artificial colours or preservatives and are suitable for vegetarians.

*Nutrition*

Each 25g bag contains :

130 calories0.3g sugar0.6g fat0.30g salt

*Availability and Price*

Around 50p for a single bag. Supermarkets are stocking 6pk (3 flavour) multi packs at around £1.30 or on special offer 2 for £2 (Tesco) or 3 for £3 (Asda)

*My Opinion*

I have very mixed feelings regarding these new Walkers crisps but I will get through them all. For some reason, supermarkets only sell 12 of rhe flavours though apparently there were 15. I went searching for the other flavours online and found that Scottish Haggis, Welsh Rarebit and Irish Stew were the ones I was looking for but I cannot find them in shops. I also cannot understand why they are in the promotion as they aren't playing in the World Cup!

Now I like a nice bit of steak and I also like flame grilled burgers so I had high hopes that these crisps would resemble on of them at least. I could not have been more wrong.

Opening the familiar foil bag, I was certain I could smell a strong mustard aroma though mustard is not something that is in the ingredients. The crisps are fresh and crunchy and this is something I have came to expect of Walkers. There is a powdery coating on each crisp though nothing that is noticable when looking at them.

Biting into the crisp with a satisfying crunch, 2 things shout out at me. "BEEF" and "ONION". Now forgive me if I am mistaking but surely a flame griilled steak isn't supposed to taste like normal Walkers Beef and Onion crisps? The beef was strong and very fake and the onion was quite disgusting if I am being honest.

I expected a sort of burnt, off the grill and slightly different meaty taste and was thouroughly disappointed and feel Walkers are ripping people off with this flavour as it is clearly Beef and Onion. Beef and Onion were never a crisp flavour I liked and I have always thought of it as being totally minging. These crisps were no exception to this thought.

I have a theory that the reason alot of these supposedly meaty crisps don't taste meaty is because they have nothing in the ingredients that proves it and they are suitable for vegetarians as well.

Cheap and reasonably healthy though!

Another packet I am not at all happy with. If you want a flame grilled steak, buy some out the butchers and make it for dinner :)

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An okay crisp - but not strong in flavouring!!

I was so excited to read in the press that Walkers were bringing out new flavours to celebrate the world cup. Countries would have their own flavour and they decided to bring out flame grilled steak flavour for Argentina.

Tonight I have tried this new flavour for the first time. It came part of a mutipack and they cost me £2.00 for 6. So certainly not cheap.

The packet of crisps has a picture of a cup (not the world cup) and it asks you to support your favourite flavour.

Each 25g has 130 calories and 8.1g of fat. This is the norm for most crisps but it is still not healthy. There are no MSG, No preservatives and they are suitable for vegetarians. (I always find these statement strange on meat flavour crisps)! The flavouring comprises glucose, salt, hydrolysed soya protein and dried onion.

This particular flavour I had been looking forward. I love Beef flavour and Steak and Onion, and I thought these would be very similar. Sadly though they weren't. The crisps were extremely fresh as you would expect from Walkers, it was just that the flavour was lacking. It wasn't a nasty taste, it just wasn't a strong flavour, and I love my crisps with plenty of flavouring. Some of the nicest crisps actually have the flavour visible on the crisps themselves!!

Would I recommend? Sadly no I wouldn't. I love walkers crisps and have tried dozens of flavours over the years. But these are not one of the best flavours they have brought out. I will try out their other world cup flavours and let you know how I get on!

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Ok for the kids but not one to rave about

These are one of the offering in the special world cup crisps Walkers have launched. One flavour for each competing country, with Walkers trying to get some extra promo through their own 'vote for your favourite' poll website.

My local shop is selling these at 3 for a £1, so I'm gradually working my way through them.

So. Argentina. What does that make us think of? Pampas grass. Hand of God. Polo. Cowboys and steaks. *Ping* goes someone's brain at Walkers - steak it is. And let's make it flame-grilled so that those crisp-noshers can imagine themselves out on the grass prairies, casually grilling half a cow over the camp-fire.

TasteThe usual high quality crisp you expect to see in a Walkers packet. Good potatoes without eyes and manky green bits, large sizes, and a tempting golden colour.

The smell when you open the bag is not quite the usual beef crisp smell. There is definitely an edge of steak in there ..but sadly, no smokiness or flame-grilliness! On to the taste, these are good, and very satisfying, but I can't get even the faintest hint of campfire, smoke or flames in there. They do taste a bit like steak, I suppose, and you would pick them out as differernt to standard beef crisps (possibly due to the lack of onion that usually partners up the beef).

Nice enough but a wee bit disappointing as they don't stand out from the crowd. Rather 'meh'.

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Walkers have released 15 new crisp flavours in honour of the world cup, with each flavour representing a different country. The idea is that people vote for their preferred winner of the flavur cup , and nformation on how to do this is on the packet. The Argentinian entry in this flavour competition is Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak .

Now, that doesn't sound like the most inspiring of flavours, especially with many steak flavour crisps being available on the market. However, Argentineans do eat a beef rich diet. In fact according to Wikipedia (I like to do my research) the average amount of beef consumed per head was 67.7 kg in 2007.

So, although I would have liked to have seen a flavour with a bit more of a South American influence and a bit more individuality to it, I can't actually think of a famous Argentine dish , at least not one that would be appetising to me. I do know they eat a lot of 'Sweetbreads' , but eating the stomach and thyroid glands of an animal has never appealed to me, and putting it on a crisp wouldn't fix that . I might have accepted corned beef though, tinned corned beef being one of the countrys major exports .

So, despite a bit of dissapointment that the Argentine entry into the flavour cup was not that exciting, I decided to buy a pack, which cost 40p in my local newsagent . Whilst I'd like to say (as I have with other flavours' that this was instantly recognisable by having the countrys flag on the front, I personally had no idea beforehand what the Argentine flag was, so in case you're not sure, it's a rather dull triband with baby blue on the top and bottom and white in the middle.

The packet has all the relevant ingredients and nutritional information, and I won't bore you with the details, but unlike some other flavours in the competition, these are suitable for vegetarians . Opening them up, there was a nice smell to them , quite strong but nothing I could really immediately identify . I'd say meaty perhaps, but not beefy . The crisps themselves were an attractive golden brown colour though, and there were no horrible eyes .

Having a taste, I could definitely identify a beefy flavour to these crisps , although (and I've made this complaint about other flavours) it tasted more like roast beef than something flame grillled, let along a nice steak . I'm not really sure hoiw a flame grilled flavour could have been achieved really, but I know I would have liked a more 'burnt' taste to these . I'm not sure if that makes sense, but real flame grilled food often has a few burnt lines across it that add a slighly charcoal element to the taste, and I would have expected a little of that .

In conclusion, this isn't a bad flavour . It's a beef crisp essentially, and a fairly nice one at that . But it's not steaky, it doesn't taste flame grilled, and it really is the least exciting sounding flavour combination of the lot .

4 stars - a nice crisp, shame they couldn't come up with a more exciting taste of Argentina . Interestingly, I only gave the English entry 3*, so looks like we might lose to argentina again!

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A tasty crisp

I am always a little bit intrigued when Walkers bring out a new flavour of crisps. In my eyes they do make the tastiest, crunchiest and yummiest crisps and nothing else comes close. My all time favourite is the basic yet truly delicious Salt and Vinegar and as I don't eat crisps all that often when I do buy a packet, I tend to go for a packet of the gorgeous green variety.

The current World Cup promotion has appealed to me though. Walkers have brough out 15 different flavours of crisps with the concept that they are attempting to find the World's Best flavour. Each of the new flavours have a traditional food theme from 15 different countries. Some sound fantastic and others sound frankly weird but all are quite intriguing.

I popped into my local Tesco's today and near the entrance was a stand of some of the different flavours. The one that appealed to me in this instance was the Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak variety. I am not a meat eater but when it comes to crisps I do rather like the meaty flavours. They are usually really savoury and satisfying. I had a quick scan of the back of the packet and noted happily that they were suitable for vegetarians, so a packet found itself into my basket.

I opened this bag of crisps later on in the day and was quite excited at the prospect of sampling this new flavour. I was disappointed, they tasted great. They were fantastically moreish and savoury and they did have a really meaty substantial twang to them which I really enjoyed.

Having said all that, this flavour while perfectly enjoyable, isn't going to set the world on fire or go down in history as being particularly memorable. It tasted very similar to the beef and onion flavour which I do also love but there was nothing about it that really made it stand out as being original or different.

So I predict that this flavour may sit middle of the table in the Walkers promotion, it's not different enough to make it a front runner but I really doubt that anyone would take objection to this tasty flavour.

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Less original than they could be, but still tasty crisps

Walkers have introduced 15 new flavours as part of their "Flavour Cup". Each is based on a country and you can vote for your favourite although I've not yet been able to find out if this is going to be like the competition last year where the winner continued to be made.

This flavour is Flame Grilled Steak, the Argentinian entry. So far this is the only flavour I've tried as it's the only one I've found in the shops so far that doesn't contain milk. They come in a 34.5g bag (a welcome change from all the giant 50g bags available) and contain 179 calories so they're not a healthy snack, but not too bad for you. The bag cost me 55p which I'd say is about average for a packet of crisps these days.

The crisps themselves are of the quality you would expect from the Walkers brand. They are light and crispy and not overly greasy. The flavour is meaty and not too salty like some crisps can be, although I thought it could maybe be a little stronger. I was a little disappointed to find that these taste, in my opinion, almost exactly the same as the steak and onion flavour from Walkers. I was hoping for something new and a bit special instead of an existing flavour in a new bag. Despite this, I enjoyed the crisps and would buy them again. They were a tasty satisfying snack even if not too original, or at least in my mind, particularly Argentinian.

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Another Wicked Flavour For The Flavour Cup!

I tried a bag of these Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak crisps yesterday and thought they were yummy, a bit salty and not as strong as other steak flavoured crisps but they were deffo proper nice and one that I reckon will do well in the Flavour Cup.

They are a plain steak flavour, there's nothing mega fancy about them even though there is a bit of seasoning on the crisps to give them a bit of a more interesting flavour over all.

The crisps have got a good texture, they're crispy and crunchy and don't taste greasy or anything like that. There is quite a lot of flavouring powder on the crisps and this flavour will deffo leave your fingers in more of a mess than some of the other flavours that Walkers do.

The crisps taste just like the steak crisps that Mccoys make, they're quite salty tasting and have got a delish meaty flavour that is addictive. They have also got a bit of a chargrilled taste to them, that sounds weird because when my mate had a bag she didn't think they taste chargrilled at all but that's the thing with these weird flavours they taste different to everyone! lol

I do think these crisps have got a proper meaty flavour, this is one of them flavours that you'd put in the BLOKE camp because they do taste more like the sort of flavour that men would eat and women would usually go for something a bit lighter in taste.

For me they have just got the flavour of normal beefy crisps and are kind of like the beef ones that Walkers used to sell, like I said there is that chargrilled flavour to them but what's the point of that if not everyone can taste it???

This Flame Grilled Steak flavour is one of about 15 different flavours Walkers have brought out for their Flavour Cup competition, this is all to do with the World Cup but I'm not sure what happens to the winning flavour at the end of it all.